Rookie NYPD officer shot 3 times in Brooklyn

Officer James Li was struck in each leg and the groin and is listed in stable condition, gunman in custody

By PoliceOne Staff

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Two rookie officers who were attempting to stop two men they caught evading bus fare were caught in a gun fight in Crown Heights Wednesday evening, which ended with one suspect in custody and one officer wounded.

Officers James Li, 26, and Randy Chow, 30, saw two men sneaking onto the back of a city bus and attempted to stop them, when one man took off and opened fire on officers, according to CBS New York.

Li was struck twice —once in each thigh — and once in the groin and fell to the ground. Both officers returned fire.

“I heard a lot of gunshots. I ran out. I saw people running towards White Castle. I ran over there, and there was a cop down,” said witness James Zitis.

Bystanders were able to point responding officers in the direction where the gunman, Rashaun Robinson, was hiding out.

“A dangerous felon (is) now off the street and a firearm off the street, all as a result of very good police work by two rookie police officers,” police Commissioner Bill Bratton said at the scene.

Two off-duty emergency medical technicians who were in a car when the shooting happened tended to Li.

Robinson had six prior arrests and an active warrant out of Pennsylvania for narcotics, according to the article.

Li was listed in stable condition, according to the New York Times. Chow was also treated for injuries.

“They did everything a good cop does, and they’ve only been on the job for a few months,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said, of the officers who graduated the academy together in December. “Yet, they responded like seasoned veterans.”